142 AGRICULTCRA.L EXPERIMENT STATION. 



from which the flies emerge in two weeks. These flies immediately 

 lay eggs for a second brood, which hatches early in August. These 

 larvae mature in due time, enter the ground where they remain during 

 the winter and emerge the following spring, completiog the life 

 his to r}'. 



REMEDIES. 



The flies feign death when disturbed and can be shaken from the 

 trees and caught on cloth and destroyed. The best time to shake 

 trees is early in the morning or late in the evening. 



Spray the trees with hellebore and water, one ounce to a pailful. 

 Dust the trees with air slacked lime. Sand, ashes and road dust 

 seem to be of no value. If the trees are not bearing, the first brood 

 could be killed by spraying with Paris Green and the second brood 

 could always be killed that way, as the larvae hatch after the fruit is 

 gathered. The slugs are so slimy and have such a disgusting odor 

 they are not eaten by birds and have few natural enemies, though 

 the maggot of a small species of ichneumon fly is parasitic on the 

 eggs. These flies are usuall}- local in their injuries and much more 

 common some years than others. 



THE PLUM CURCULIO. 



Gonotrachelus nenuphar, (Herbst.) 

 This insect which is well known as the worst enemy to plum 

 growers was observed the past season as doing considerable damage 

 to apples. From ten to twenty-five per cent of the earl^' apples 

 examined in July showed the characteristic cut of this insect. 



Quite a large number of apples of the earlier varieties, examined 

 for the apple maggot, were found punctured and infested by the larva 

 of the above species. After the first of August the cuts we found 

 made by this insect were few and we are led to believe they prefer 

 the earlier varieties and that the apples punctured do not mature. 

 We found also that a very large per cent of the larvae which hatched 

 did not reach maturity, as quite a number of dead larvffi were found 

 in the fruit and but very few reached maturity and transformed. 

 We however succeed in transforming enough to identify the species. 

 It would seem that the plum curculio does not flourish well in the 

 apple and attacks it in the absence of its favorite fruit. The decline 

 in the cultivation of plums due to the ravages of this pest and the 

 black knot will account for its attacking apples. 



